MESSAGE   NO.   1 


HIS  EXCELLENCY  F.  W.  PICKENS, 


THE    LEGISLATURE, 


ANNUAL  SESSION  OF  NOVEMBER,  1861. 


COLUMBIA,    S.    C: 
CHAKLES  P.  PELHAM,  STATE  PRINTER. 

1861. 


/ 


MESSAGE   NO.  1 


'      OP 


HIS  EXCELLENCY  F.  ¥.  PICKENS, 


TO 


THE    LEGISLATURE, 


AT    THE 


ANNUAL  SESSION  OF  NOVEMBER,  1861. 


COLUMBIA,    S.    C: 
CliAKLE.,  P.  I  'ELHAM,  state  printer. 

1861. 


MESSAGE    X  0 .   1 


Gentlemen  of  the.  Senate  and  House,  of  Representatives: 

It  has  beeu  so  short  a  time  since  1  communicated  to  you  my  views  on  the 
general  interests  of  the  State,  that  T  now  most  respectfully  urge  your  imme- 
diate consideration  of  the  measures  which  I  then  recommended. 

The  first  measure  of  great  importance  is  the  thorough  reorganization  of 

all  the  reserve  military  forces  of  the  State.  Under  the  general  resolution 
passed  at  your  recent  extra  session,  I  have  endeavored  to  raise  battalions 
and  regiments,  by  offering  to  commission  the  field  officers  if  they  mustered 
companies  into  immediate  service,  as  the  emergency  was  pressing.  The 
Legislature  adjourned  sunn  alter  meeting,  without  doing  anything  more  defi- 
nite, and  I  acted,  as  1  supposed,  for  the  best.  But  I  now  desire  your  con- 
firmation of  the  same,  and  urge  that  a  general  system  be  adopted  by  which 
to  regulate  my  conduct  hereafter.  The  old  militia  system  has  been  entirely 
deranged  by  the  officers,  in  most  instances,  bavin-  accepted  Bervice  in  other 
organizations,  and  I  recommend  that  field  officers  in  all  the  regiments  and 
battalions  of  the  State  be  forthwith  appointed,  in  order  to  effect  as  speedy 
an  organization  as  possible.  I  would  except  from  this  the  fourth  brigade 
of  the  second  division,  at  least  as  far  as  the  City  of  Charleston  is 
concerned,  because  that  portion  of  our  militia  has  been  preserved,  and  is 
now  in  a  high  state  of  drill  and  thorough  organization. 

Since  your  extra  session,  our  State  has  been  invaded  by  a  powerful  and 
thoroughly  armed  fleet,  carrying  the  heaviest  guns.  The  channel  through 
which  they  entered  is  two  miles  and  a  half  wide,  and  is  the  deepest  on  the 
Southern  coast.  In  the  earth-works  that  had  been  erected,  they  were 
resisted  by  brave  and  heroic  men,  but  such  batteries  were  not  calculated  to 
resist  a  bombardment  of  four  hundred  guns.  They  were  constructed  to 
turn  marauding  parties  embracing  a  limited  number  of  vessels. 

To  make  the  defence  of  such  a  harbor  perfect,  large  floating  batteries  or 
gun-boats,  bearing  guns  of  the  heaviest  calibre,  are  essential.  The  region 
that  the  military  possession  of  Port  Royal  gives  the  enemy  control  over, 
will  embrace  about  six  thousand  negroes,  and,  perhaps,  four  thousand  bales 
of  cotton.     Most  of  this  will  be  burnt.     A  true  and  patriotic  people  will 


burn  their  productions  and  property  rather  than  it  shall  fall  into  the  hands 

of  their  infamous  invaders.     These  island-  are  surrounded  by  arms  of  the 

.  and  were  occupied  by  highly  refined  and  intelligent  proprietors.     They 

arc  so  various  and  detached  that  fchej  are  easily  invaded  by  an  enemy  who 

have  power  OH  the  ocean,  but,  as  far  as  military  position  is  involved,  their 
—  ion  brings  the  enemy  hut  very  little  nearer  to  any  permanent  invasion 
of  tin-  State.  Our  Bea-ooasi  has  heen  possessed,  heretofore,  by  threatening 
foes  in  our  first  revolution,  and  then  again  in  eighteen  hundred  and 
thirteen,  and  yet,  notwithstanding  we  were  much  weaker  than  at  present, 
the  haughty  and  defiant  spirit  of  our  people  repelled  them  from  the  inte- 
rior, and  there  was  not  an  hour  or  a  moment,  in  our  darkest  days,  when 
there  A',  as  the  slightest  fear  as  to  any  permanent  OOlHjuest  of  our  State. 

During  the  days  of  our  first  war  for  independence,  South  Carolina  had  to 
contend  with  a  powerful  foreign  foe  in  front,  and  with  fieree  and  terrible 
savage  tribes  from  the  rear,  while,  at  the  same  time,  she  had  the  bloody 
and  revengeful  fcory  around  the  very  hearth-stones  of  our  homes,  yet  she 
never  faltered  in  her  onward  and  daring  course.  From  her  sea-coast  to  her 
mountains  there  is  scarcely  the  distance  of  a  Sabbath-day's  journey  from 
one  battle-field  to  another,  hut  where  the  bones  of  our  ancestors  now  lie  to 
mark  out  the  via  sacra  along  which  their  descendants  may  march  again  to 
independence.  We  are  now  a  united  people.  From  the  highest  to  the 
lowest  there  is  one  universal,  stern,  fixed  resolve,  to  make  the  State  a  vast 
mausoleum  for  the  bones  of  freemen,  rather  than  hold  it  as  an  inheritance 
for  living  bondsmen. 

The  high-toned  and  intelligent  people  of  our  islands,  who  have  been' so 
deeply  harassed,  deserve  our  warmest  sympathy,  and  I  earnestly  urge  that 
everything  shall  be  immediately  done,  within  your  proper  jurisdiction,  that 
can  be,  to  give  them  all  the  aid  possible.  I  recommend  that  in  certain 
Districts  or  Parishes  of  the  State,  that  may  be  designated,  Provost  Mar- 
shals shall  be  appointed,  who  will  take  command  of  the  overseers  on  all 
plantations  in  the  District  or  Parish,  and  organize  a  system  of  local  police, 
with  strict  accountability.  These  Marshals  should  have  power  to  adminis- 
ter oaths,  and  hold  summary  jurisdiction  over  all  slaves  and  suspected 
persons  who  may  be  passing,  without  ostensible  occupation  or  responsible 
papers)  and,  upon  proper  affidavits,  all  such  should  be  committed  to  the 
military  or  civil  authorities,  whenever  the  Marshal  may  think  it  necessary. 
He  should  put  himself  in  communicatiou,  also,  with  the  commandant  of 
the  nearest  military  post,  and  might  have  authority  to  call  on  all  such  to 
aid  him  in  his  police  supervision  within  his  District  or  Parish.  In  most 
instances,  the  owners  of  slaves  are  in  the  ranks,  defending  the  country,  and 
they  cannot,  therefore,  exercise  the  ordinary  jurisdiction  with  their  over- 
seers.    The  duty  of  the  Marshal  should  be  to  give  that  protection  to  slaves 


which  is  necessary,  on  account  of  the  absence  of  their  masters.  In  many 
portions  of  the  country,  all  the  Magistrates  are  also  in  the  army,  and  the 
power  to  administer  oaths  and  have  summary  jurisdiction  is  necessary. 

The  patrol  system  has  likewise  been  deranged  hy  the  breaking  up  of  the 
Beat  Companies,  and  the  proper  organization  of  all  overseers,  under  Provost 
Marshals,  for  specified  districts  of  the  country,  would  provide  a  substitute 
for  the  present.  The  Marshals  may  not  be  paid,  but  agents  or  assistants 
might  be;  and  let  the  chiefs  be  selected  from  men  of  independence  and  long 
high  standing.  If  any  measure  is  to  be  adopted  in  relation  to  this  matter, 
it  ought  to  be  done  as  sunn  as  possible,  for  on  the  islands  of  our  sea-coast 
there  is,  at  present,  much  confusion,  and  great  necessity  for  a  strong  police 
in  some  shape  or  form. 

Our  Nautical  School,  patronized  by  the  State,  has  rendered  active  and 
useful  service  at  various  times,  in  our  harbor  and  on  the  coast ;  and  as  we 
are  now  to  build  up  a  Navy  in  the  South,  their  training  and  skill  will  be  of 
great  advantage.  I  assigned  to  them  the  Petrel,  a  vessel  eminently  suited 
to  be  made  a  School  Ship.  I  hope  this  will  meet  with  your  approbation, 
and  that  the  School  will  be  particularly  cared  for  under  the  management  of 
its  efficient  superintendents.  Papers,  showing  its  efficiency,  arc  herewith 
transmitted,  for  your  information. 

The  authority  given  me  by  the  Convention  to  appoint  a  Council,  termi- 
nates with  this  session  of  the  Legislature.  I  respectfully  urge  that,  with 
the  complicated  and  increased  business  of  this  office,  it  is  impossible  for  me 
to  attend  to  all  duties  required  of  me.  In  this  pressing  emergency,  for  the 
present,  I  request  that  I  may  continue  at  least  a  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
to  superintend  the  management  in  the  details  of  raising  the  funds  and  dis- 
bursing them,  and  also  that  I  shall  be  allowed  a  special  Secretary,  to  be  in 
constant  attendance,  with  a  competent  salary.  The  increased  business  and 
my  constant  engagements  make  these  arrangements  absolutely  necessary. 

At  the  recent  extra  session  I  was  authorized  to  raise  three  huudred 
thousand  dollars.  The  Banks  very  patriotically  made  the  proper  arrange- 
ment. But  I  urge  upon  you  the  adoption  of  measures  to  place  our  resources 
upon  the  most  permanent  and  fixed  basis.  For  the  proper  support  of  every 
thing  connected  with  the  military  wants  of  the  State,  at  least  fifteen  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars  will  be  required  for  the  year.  An  estimate  of  details 
is  herewith  submitted  for  the  examination  of  your  committees  at  as  early  a 
moment  as  possible. 

I  also  desire  that  you  will  provide  some  satisfactory  arrangement  to 
indemnify  the  Bank  of  the  State  for  its  advances.  Connected  with  this 
subject,  and  a  proper  system  of  taxation,  I  most  respectfully  call  your  atten- 
tion to  the  points  urged  in  my  recent  Message  at  the  extra  session. 


If  tin.'  State  assumes  the  payment  of  her  quota  of  the  Confederate  War 
it  will  be  for  your  wisdom  to  devise  the  wave  and  means.     The  pro- 
visions  of  that  Act  seem  to  require  that  it  shall  be  done  by  the  first  of  De- 
cember.    Ii'  'he  Stat.-  assumes  the  payment,  it  will  thereby  save  ten  per 

cent,  mi  the  amount  bf  our  quota. 

Justice  requires  that  a  Btay  i  f  execution  or  levy  should  he  direeted  by 
law  on  all  debts  that  may  be  due  by  our  patriot:  in   all  branches  of 

ice.  1  earnestly  call  your  attention  again  to  this  Bubject.  Ii'  there  is 
any  pure  and  disinterested  service  to  the  country,  rendered  from  patriotic 
devotion  alone,  it  comes  from  the  ranks  of  our  loyal  and  true  Boldiers.  Per- 
hap.-,  for  the  present,  all  civil  process  ought  to  be  suspended,  even  before 
judgment  is  obtained. 

We  should  take  the  earliest  steps  to  secure  the  manufacture  of  small 
arm<.  cannon  and  powder  in  our  own  State.  We  have  iron  in  Spartanburg 
and  York,  peculiarly  suited,  by  its  adhesive  qualities,  lor  cannon.  There 
are  hut  two  plaees  in  the  whole  country  equal  to  it,  one  in  New  Jersey  and 
one  on  the  Cumberland  River,  in  Tennessee.  Many  of  our  best  canuon 
were  cast  there  in  eighteen  hundred  and  fourteen,  and  I  have  recent  infor- 
mation that  induces  me  to  believe  the  owners  are  prepared  to  ca^t  them 
again.  In  eighteen  hundred  and  fourteen  there  was  a  large  rifle  factory  in 
Greenville  District.  There  are  now  in  Pickens  District  two  powder-mills, 
operating  only  on  a  small  scale,  for  want  of  material,  and  perhaps,  proper 
encouragement.  I  hope  there  may  be  seme  steps  taken  to  encourage  all 
these  works,  by  authorizing  liberal  contracts,  and  by  placing  at  my  disposal 
such  means  as  you  may  think  advisable.  The  State  should  also  give 
encouragement  to  raising  and  manufacturing  wool  enough  for  our  necessary 
wants.  The  slopes  and  spurs  of  our  mountain  region  are  eminently  suited 
for  all  these  purposes,  and  the  attention  of  our  people  cannot  be  turned  too 
soon  to  the  developement  of  all  our  internal  and  domestic  resources.  There 
are  very  few  sections  of  country  better  suited  to  manufactures  of  all  kinds 
than  the  rolling  and  upper  part  of  this  State. 

Individuals  are  taught  by  reading  and  reflection,  but  a  whole  people  are 
only  taught  by  great  events.  Under  a  free  Government,  necessity  or  interest 
alone  can  force  a  country  to  develop  its  resources.  Driven  to  assert  our 
separate  independence  by  wrongs  and  insults  that  no  people  could  bear 
without  degradation,  we  will  find,  in  the  progress  of  events,  new  channels  of 
prosperity  opened,  and  new  sources  of  enterprise  and  industry  discovered, 
which  will  make  our  country  what  Providence  intended  it  to  be — with  its 
balmy  climate — not  only  independent,  but  equal,  in  every  particular,  to  the 
freest  and  bravest  amongst  the  free  and  the  brave  of  this  earth. 

These  confederated  States  embrace  an  area  equal  to  Europe,  with  rivers 
more  vast  and  mighty,  and  with  a  mountain   range,  if  not  so  high,  yet  the 


noblest  and  broadest  that  stretch  through  any  country.  The  mineral 
resources  of  this  range  in  coal,  iron,  copper,  gold,  and  (if  we  embrace  Mis- 
souri) lead,  arc  such  as  of  themselves  alone  make  the  basis  of  a  powerful 
empire.  Then,  if  we  include  the  productions  of  cotton,  rice,  tobacco,  sugar, 
wheat,  and  Indian  corn,  when  fully  developed,  the  imagination  lias  never  yet 
gone  beyond  the  resources  of  these  States,  now  rising,  with  giant  propor- 
tions, to  stand  an  equal  amongst  the  nations-of  the  world,  after  strangling 
the  serpents  that  encircled  the  cradle  of  our  infancy.  For  the  arrogant  and 
supercilious  race  of  the  North  to  wage  a  war  for  the  permanent  subjugation 
of  such  a  country,  and  then  their  attempt  to  clothe  ten  millions  of  freemen 
iu  the  livery  of  bondage,  only  shows  that  the  godfl  first  make  mad  those 
whom  they  intend  to  destroy.  In  the  former  ages  of  the  world,  the  sabre, 
with  brutal  numbers,  was  the  arbiter  of  empire;  and  the  ferocity  of  North- 
ern hordes  overpowered  and  subjugated  the  more  civilized  and  refined  por- 
tions of  the  earth.  But  since  the  invention  of  artillery,  with  gun-powder,, 
which  gives  a  few  the  capacity  to  defend  themselves  against  the  many,  no 
brave  and  united  people  have  ever  been  conquered.  If  a  foreign  foe  has 
ever  conquered  them,  it  has  been  by  rivalships  and  divisions  amongst  them- 
selves. It  is  only  in  this  way  that  any  free  and  brave  people  can  ever  be 
enslaved  by  invaders.  Let  every  man,  high  and  low,  come  to  the  altar  of 
his  country,  and  sacrifice  upon  it  eveiy  unhallowed  and  selfish  aspiration  or 
thought,  and,  laying  their  hands  upon  that  altar,  swear  allegiance  to  the 
country,  and  nothing  but  the  country,  and  that  it  shall  forever  be  free. 

Let  this  be  done,  and  the  country  is  free,  beyond  the  reach  of  any  earthly 
power  to  thwart  our  destiny  or  balk  our  onward  march  to  independence. 
The  God  of  Battles  will  guide  us.  Let  no  man  falter  or  doubt.  The 
sword  of  the  brave  and  the  free  will  flash  and  gleam,  as  it  has  ever  done, 
high  in  triumph  over  the  perilous  ridge  of  victory.  "We  may  have  a  dreary 
waste  to  serve  our  pilgrimage  in,  but  the  promised  land  is  before  us,  and  if 
we  look  with  steadfast  faith  to  a  superintending  Providence,  our  inheritance 
in  it  is  as  fixed  and  certain  as  the  star  of  fate  itself. 

F.  W.  PICKENS. 


